Jul 16, 2020White House National Security adviser Robert O’Brien on Wednesday expressed sympathy for France’s account of events in a Mediterranean naval standoff with Turkey last month over a Libyan arm smuggling allegation. That’s not good,” O’Brien told reporters in France. O’Brien also suggested that President Donald Trump would be available to mediate the dispute between French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Why it matters: France said Turkish forces harassed its ship after it attempted to inspect a Tanzania-flagged vessel suspected of carrying arms to Libya in violation of the United Nations arms embargo. France is closer to Libyan warlord Khalifa Hifter in the dispute, while Turkey has committed forces to support the rival Government of National Accord, based in Tripoli.

Source: Libya Today July 16, 2020 21:33 UTC